Milestones and firsts to look forward to at Beijing 2022
The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 is set to deliver spectacular sporting action, nail-biting drama and its fair share of firsts. Expect a host of significant milestones for individual athletes, nations, and the host city at the quadrennial cold-weather showpiece. Olympics.com looks at some of the ‘firsts’ we can expect in Beijing when the Olympic Winter Games start on 4 February.
Beijing – the first dual Olympic city
The capital of the People’s Republic of China will officially become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games on 4 February 2022.
Fourteen years after hosting the first Olympics on Chinese soil, Beijing will make history when it welcomes the world to the Winter Games.
The iconic Bird’s Nest (Beijing National Stadium) will also be the first venue to host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. During Beijing 2008, the stadium was also used for athletics competitions.
Saudi Arabia and Haiti joins Winter Olympic family
With every Winter Olympic Games, non-traditional winter sports nations make their maiden sojourn into the cold-weather showpiece.
Beijing 2022 will be no different with Caribbean island nation Haiti and desert kingdom Saudi Arabia set to make their debuts at the Winter Olympics.
Alpine skier Richardson Viano earned Haiti’s quota for the Games and will be flying his country’s flag when he competes in the men’s giant slalom event.
Making history for his country and the region, Fayik Abdi will become Saudi Arabia’s first Winter Olympian when he takes to the slopes in Alpine skiing in Beijing 2022. The Arab kingdom will be the first Gulf nation to appear at the Winter Olympics.
Sarah Schleper Mexi-CAN do it
Mexico’s Sarah Schleper is already one of the mainstays of the Alpine skiing circuit representing both the United States and Mexico at the Olympic Winter Games.
The 42-year-old Schleper will reach legendary status in Beijing 2022 where she will become only the third athlete and first woman to feature at six Olympics in Alpine skiing. She will tie the record for most appearances at the Winter Olympics by an Alpine skier with compatriot Hubertus von Hohenlohe and Marco Buchel of Liechtenstein.
Schleper represented the United States at four Games making her debut at Nagano 1998 before changing allegiances in 2014.
Curling rock stars
Reigning U.S. Olympic champion John Shuster and Norway's Torger Nergaard will become the first athletes to participate in five Olympic curling competitions since the sport became a medal event.
Nergaard will technically be making his sixth consecutive appearance at the Games but 'did not start' at Turin 2006. The 46-year-old Nergaard won gold on his Olympic debut at Salt Lake City 2002 as the alternate for Pal Trulsen. Nergaard and his curling compadres have gained a reputation for their colourful outfits since Vancouver 2010. Their multi-coloured and often loud trousers have added more intrigue to a sport that already attracts curiosity from Olympic fans.
READ MORE: USA curler John Shuster: Another charge at glory, history in Beijing
Tomoka and Fischnaller to reach snowboard milestone
Japanese athlete Takeuchi Tomoka and Italy’s Roland Fischnaller will appear at their sixth Olympic Winter Games in snowboard.
Canada’s Jasey-Jay Anderson was the sole record-holder for the most appearances at the Games in the discipline but will now share the milestone with Tomoka and Fischnaller.
Takeuchi continues to be a pioneer of the sport in her country, becoming the first Japanese woman to reach six Winter Olympics. She won the silver medal in the parallel giant slalom at Sochi 2014 – a first for a Japanese woman in snowboarding.
READ MORE: Takeuchi Tomoka eyes 6th Winter Games - and more in life
Sliding to skeleton greatness
Latvian brothers Martins and Tomass Dukurs, along with US legend Katie Uhlaender will become the most experienced skeleton athletes going to their fifth Olympic Games in the event.
Six-time world champion Martins, one of only four men to have won two Olympic skeleton medals, will be looking to finally upgrade silver to gold at Beijing 2022.
Former world champion Uhlaender will, in the process, tie the record for Winter Olympic appearances by a US woman.
READ MORE: Martins Dukurs: Latvia's 'Superman' on quest for elusive Olympic gold
Pechstein keeps going, and going, and going
German speedskater Claudia Pechstein will achieve several firsts in Beijing 2022, where she will become only the second athlete after Kasai Noriaki of Japan to compete in eight Winter Games. The 49-year-old Pechstein, who made her debut in Albertville 1992, will become the oldest woman to compete at a Winter Olympics, turning 50 just two days after the closing ceremony. Pechstein has nine Olympic speed skating medals to her name – five gold, two silver and two bronze.
Short track minds
Italians Arianna Fontana and Yuri Confortola and Charles Hamelin of Canada will join an exclusive club – with three other Olympians – to have made it to their fifth Olympics in short-track speed skating.
Fontana has medalled at all of the four Olympic Winter Games she has competed in since her debut at Turin 2006. In Turin, she became Italy’s youngest medallist at the Winter Games at 15 years and 314 days old. Her eight medals are the joint record – which she shares with Apolo Ohno and Viktor An – for most Winter Olympic medals in short track.
Five-time Olympic medallist Hamelin is tied with fellow short-track speed skaters Marc Gagnon, Francois-Louis Tremblay and figure skater Scott Moir as Canada’s most decorated male Winter Olympians.
Sensational six for cross-country Lee
Lee Chae-won of the Republic of Korea will become only the second woman to compete in six Olympics in cross-country skiing when she lines up at Beijing 2022. Lee, who made her debut at Salt Lake City 2002, will also be the first female athlete from her country to appear in six Winter Olympics. Lee retired after PyeongChang 2018 but made her comeback in time to reach a special milestone in Beijing.
Winter and Summer Olympians
An exclusive club exists for athletes who hold the distinction of competing at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games. More athletes will join the select group in Beijing 2022.
Among these is Great Britain’s Montell Douglas returning to Beijing, where she debuted as a Summer Olympian in 2008. The bobsleigh athlete will become the first British woman to compete in both the Winter and Summer editions of the global showpiece. The former British 100m record holder competed in the 4x100m relay at Beijing 2008 and will be in action in the two-woman bobsleigh at Beijing 2022.